Guess quote

Edward Gibbon [1737-1794] English

Rank: 101
Historian

Edward Gibbon FRS was an English historian, writer and Member of Parliament. His most important work, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, was published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788 and is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its open criticism of organized religion.

History, Alone, Brainy, Business, Courage, Friendship, Government, Happiness, Hope, Learning, Power, Respect, Sympathy, Teacher, Work

Quote	Tags	Rank
Our work is the presentation of our capabilities.	Business, Work	101
I never make the mistake of arguing with people for whose opinions I have no respect.	Respect	102
But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous.	Power	103
The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators.	Brainy	104
Fanaticism obliterates the feelings of humanity.		105
Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.		106
History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.	History	107
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule.	Government	108
History is indeed little more than the register of the crimes, follies, and misfortunes of mankind.	History	109
Hope, the best comfort of our imperfect condition.	Hope	110
I understand by this passion the union of desire, friendship, and tenderness, which is inflamed by a single female, which prefers her to the rest of her sex, and which seeks her possession as the supreme or the sole happiness of our being.	Friendship, Happiness	111
Conversation enriches the understanding, but solitude is the school of genius.		112
The end comes when we no longer talk with ourselves. It is the end of genuine thinking and the beginning of the final loneliness.		113
My early and invincible love of reading I would not exchange for all the riches of India.		114
We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be contest, and we must win.		115
The pathetic almost always consists in the detail of little events.		116
The style of an author should be the image of his mind, but the choice and command of language is the fruit of exercise.		117
My English text is chaste, and all licentious passages are left in the decent obscurity of a learned language.		118
The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.		119
Every man who rises above the common level has received two educations: the first from his teachers; the second, more personal and important, from himself.	Teacher	120
I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.		121
The laws of probability, so true in general, so fallacious in particular.		122
Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty.		123
The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature.	Courage	124
Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.	Learning	125
It has always been my practice to cast a long paragraph in a single mould, to try it by my ear, to deposit it in my memory, but to suspend the action of the pen till I had given the last polish to my work.		126
In every deed of mischief he had a heart to resolve, a head to contrive, and a hand to execute.		201
Books are those faithful mirrors that reflect to our mind the minds of sages and heroes.		202
Our sympathy is cold to the relation of distant misery.	Sympathy	203
I was never less alone than when by myself.	Alone	204
Style is the image of character.		205
The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful.		206
The author himself is the best judge of his own performance; none has so deeply meditated on the subject; none is so sincerely interested in the event.		207
All that is human must retrograde if it does not advance.		208
Beauty is an outward gift which is seldom despised, except by those to whom it has been refused.		209
Let us read with method, and propose to ourselves an end to which our studies may point. The use of reading is to aid us in thinking.		210
Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.		211

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